More lost episodes of ‘Doctor Who’ could become animated adventures if new project ‘The Power of the Daleks’ is a success.
Patrick Troughton’s first appearance as the Second Doctor when he took over from William Hartnell came in the 1966 storyline but the historic episodes were wiped by the BBC in the 70s before a proper archive was established.
Now, animator-and-director Charles Norton along with Paul Hembury, Executive Producer for BBC Worldwide, have brought the story back to life as six animated instalments from audio recordings, photos and scripts and if it is well received then there is no reason why another of the 26 incomplete serials can’t be resurrected in the new format.
Speaking to BANG Showbiz at a screening of the first two episodes of ‘The Power of the Daleks’ reconstruction, Paul said: "This was an experiment to take such an important story and do this. We need to do see what the fans think, and how well received this is. We know there are lots and lots of missing stories and the soundtracks are in existence for all of them, so there clearly is more that can be done, and lots and lots has been learned from this one."
Paul was joined at the event by actress Anneke Wills – who played 60s companion Polly in a number of stories, including ‘The Power of the Daleks’ – and she knows exactly what missing episodes she wants to see remade.
She said: "For me, personally, it would be ‘The Smugglers’, because that was my favourite. ‘The Crusade’ would another one and ‘Fury from the Deep’, we’ve got to see that one!"
But Charles cautionary added that some of the missing episodes are a lot more difficult to turn into animations than others.
He explained: "There are certain stories that are perhaps more doable than others. ‘The Crusade’ is an interesting one, because it’s one we’re missing two episodes from. So you look at it and think, ‘Two episodes? 45 minutes? We’ve just done two and a half hours – 45 minutes would be easy!’ Then you actually look at ‘The Crusade’, as I did a few days ago, and you realise that there are 24 speaking characters and they all have multiple changes of clothes. There’s lots of different costumes and sets. But I’m not saying it’s impossible. Nothing’s impossible."
‘Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks’ will be released on the BBC Store on Saturday (05.11.16) at 5.50pm – 50 years to the minute since it first was broadcast on BBC One.
Although BBC Store is only available to UK residents, fans all around the world will be able to watch a live stream of the animation’s first three minutes at the same time via the @BBCStore Twitter account.
The ‘Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks’ DVD will be released on November 21.
Doctor Who lost episodes could become animations
